Immigrations Hearings

Immigrations Hearings. . Marker One:, The Chinese Exclusion Act , In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The only law to target immigrants of a specific race, it barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States., To get around this unjust law, Chinese men who were legally in the U.S. would sell spaces reserved for family members to Chinese citizens who wanted to come here. This practice of creating “paper sons” led immigrations officials to develop a demanding interview process to establish the legitimacy of an immigrant’s claim., [The text repeats in Chinese], 1882年，国会通过了排华法案。这是唯一针对特定种族移民的法律，它禁止中国劳工进入美国。 为了规避这项不公正的法律，在美国合法居住的中国男子会将留给家人的空间卖给想来这里的中国公民。这种创造“纸儿子”的做法导致移民官员制定了一个苛刻的面试程序，以确定移民要求的合法性。 1882 Nián, guóhuì tōngguòle pái huá fǎ'àn. Zhè shì wéiyī zhēnduì tèdìng zhǒngzú yímín de fǎlǜ, tā jìnzhǐ zhōngguó láogōng jìnrù měiguó. Wèile guībì zhè xiàng bù gōngzhèng de fǎlǜ, zài měiguó héfǎ jūzhù de zhōngguó nánzǐ huì jiāng liú gěi jiārén de kōngjiān mài gěi xiǎnglái zhèlǐ de zhōngguó gōngmín. Zhè zhǒng chuàngzào “zhǐ érzi” de zuòfǎ dǎozhì yímín guānyuán zhìdìngle yīgè kēkè de miànshì chéngxù, yǐ quèdìng yímín yāoqiú de héfǎ xìng., Caption: , Interrogations involved the detainees, their witnesses or sponsors, an immigration officer, a translator, and a stenographer. They took place in the Administration Building., Marker Two:, Interrogation and Testimony , Immigration officials countered the “paper sons” system with a detailed hearing process. Detainees and witnesses were interrogated in grueling detail about their family history and village life in China. Any discrepancies in the answers could mean deportation. Even legitimate immigrants were known to fail the examination., [The text repeats in Chinese], 移民官员通过详细的听证程序来反驳“纸儿子”制度。被拘留者和目击者被详细审讯，讲述了他们在中国的家族历史和乡村生活。答案中的任何差异都可能意味着被驱逐出境。众所周知，即使是合法移民也未能通过考试。 Yímín guānyuán tōngguò xiángxì de tīngzhèng chéngxù lái fǎnbó “zhǐ érzi” zhìdù. Bèi jūliú zhě hé mùjí zhě bèi xiángxì shěnxùn, jiǎngshùle tāmen zài zhōngguó de jiāzú lìshǐ hé xiāngcūn shēnghuó. Dá'àn zhōng de rènhé chāyì dōu kěnéng yìwèizhe bèi qūzhú chūjìng. Zhòngsuǒzhōuzhī, jíshǐ shì héfǎ yímín yě wèi néng tōngguò kǎoshì., ”I was interrogated for three days. The questions they asked me were baffling. After a day or two of questioning, it was not surprising that people would give the wrong answer here and there…” , Mr. Tong, at Angel Island, 1932, “I was interrogated one day for several hours. They asked me so much, I broke out in a sweat. Sometimes they would try to trip you…” , Mrs. Chin, at Angel Island, 1913, :The testimony was taken directly on the typewriter. He would be questioned about his birthday, his parents, his brothers and sisters, and about the village he lived in. That might be quite brief or it might drag out with some inspectors to forty or fifty pages of typed testimony. It took from one to three or four days for him and the witnesses altogether.” , Immigration Inspector, 1929-1940, Questions from Interrogation Transcripts , Could you have answered them? , What direction did your doorway face? , How many windows are in your house? , On what side of the room did you sleep? , How many steps are there to your front door? , Of what material was the floor in your bedroom? , How many times a year would you receive letters from your father? , How did your father send you money to travel to the United States? , Who lived in the third house in the second row of houses in your village? , Where was the rive been located?, Marker Three:, Fighting Back , Chinese fought back against restrictive U.S. laws in many ways. Some fought for their rights in court. Others sought to get around the laws. These “paper sons” meticulously prepared for their interviews by learning everything they could about their “families and towns” in China., Sympathetic Chinese staff on Angel Island occasionally helped new arrivals, although contact between the two groups was prohibited., [The text repeats in Chinese], 中国人以多种方式反击美国的限制性法律。有些人在法庭上为自己的权利而战。其他人则试图绕过法律。这些“纸儿子”通过了解他们在中国的“家庭和城镇”的一切，精心准备他们的采访。 天使岛上富有同情心的中国工作人员偶尔会帮助新来的人，尽管这两个群体之间被禁止接触。 Zhōngguó rén yǐ duō zhǒng fāngshì fǎnjí měiguó de xiànzhì xìng fǎlǜ. Yǒuxiē rén zài fǎtíng shàng wèi zìjǐ de quánlì ér zhàn. Qítā rén zé shìtú ràoguò fǎlǜ. Zhèxiē “zhǐ érzi” tōngguò liǎojiě tāmen zài zhōngguó de “jiātíng hé chéngzhèn” de yīqiè, jīngxīn zhǔnbèi tāmen de cǎifǎng. Tiānshǐ dǎo shàng fùyǒu tóngqíng xīn de zhōngguó gōngzuò rényuán ǒu'ěr huì bāngzhù xīn lái de rén, jǐnguǎn zhè liǎng gè qúntǐ zhī jiān bèi jìnzhǐ jiēchù., ”The kitchen staff used to sneak in coaching notes from San Francisco to help us pass the interrogation.” , Mr. Tom, Angel Island, 1921, Caption One , Coaching books (above right) and coaching notes (right) hidden in a banana peel were used to help “paper sons” memorize the information necessary to pass their interrogations. Most immigrants studied the coaching notes during their ocean voyage and threw them overboard before arriving in San Francisco. , The National Archives, Caption Two , A Long Struggle for Equal Rights , Between 1889 and 1928, the United States Supreme Court heard over a half dozen cases involving the rights of Chinese immigrants and people of Chinese descent. In 1897, Wong Kim Ark, who was born in the U.S., was denied re-entry after visiting China. In one of the most important cases in immigration law, the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution applied to all people born in the United States “regardless of race or color.” Wong Kim Ark was a citizen and this could not be denied entry into the country.